 infobox monarch name tavish i title his peerless majesty the king of keoland ; duke of gradsul ; lord of gran march ; plar of sterich ; protector of the south image reign 287 cy &ndash; 346 cy royal house house rhola rhola father mother issue tavish ii 325 cy &ndash; 400 cy date of birth 256 cy place of birth gradsul keoland date of death 346 cy place of death niole dra keoland  tavish vilchar rhola i  256 cy-346 cy was kingdom of keoland king of keoland from 287 cy until his death in 346 cy he was often known as  tavish the great  __toc__early life early life early life born into the vilchar family the noble family of the duchy of gradsul tavish tavish's talents were quickly recognized as were his deigns on rulership of house rhola by the age of 15 he was dispatched as a minister to the lortmil mountains to serve as a minister to the dwur whom the house rhola rhola long had desired a closer relationship it was further hoped that this mission dispatching the young man far from the capital of the rhola would further squelch the obvious ambitions held by tavish unfortunately for the current ruling family of house rhola this plan backfired for it was in the lortmils that tavish first gained the friendship of scion of the dwur lord olinstaad corond and though he was expected to remain near the settlements tavish and corond along with several other companions often found the chance to depart on mercenary adventures typical of such would-be heroes it was during these travels that tavish began to gain a greater understanding of the lands and peoples surrounding keoland an understanding that would help to shape and drive his plans for the country country's expansion four years after he was first dispatched tavish was called home upon the death of the duke of gradsul the patriarch of the vilchars surprising all in the family tavish made a bid for control and even more surprisingly he succeeded drawing on the support of the allies he had made over the years he was easily carried into the position of family patriarch; particularly those house rhola rhola living east of the sheldomar valley sheldomar in the foothills of the lortmils he was granted the title of duke of gradsul himself and from there the traditional role as lord admiral of keoland expansion expansion expansion using his position as lord admiral tavish proceeded to expand the duchy of gradsul along the coast of the azure sea gaining possession of land as far as the hool marsh establishing several port towns along the coast he began to make plans for naval operations and expansion to the south reports of increased activity by toli raiders some as far north as the hoolmouth spurred him on to gain control of the necessary forward bases to make war against the toli a constant thorn in the house rhola rhola 's side these acts however gain the notice of the court of gillum i gillum as the current king of keoland king was violently opposed to any expansion of keoland 's borders gillum i gillum 's growing madness however works in tavish tavish's favor as he slowly and subtly extended his influence throughout the court of the land he proceeded to gain the support of a majority of keoland 's noble families to the oeridians he promised an end to the excesses of gillum i gillum 's court as well as the reputation of impotence it had begun to gain; several nobles of the heartlands humiliated on travels outside the kingdom were disgusted upon the failure of their liege to act in their support he further promised an end to the house neheli neheli 's embarassment purely from association to the mad king and to his own house he promised a return to the expansionist policies of the past while arranging for them to best gain from said expansions while he gained ground within the nation he continued to bolster his support from without he arranged for soldiers from his own duchy to move in replacing those withdrawn by gillum i gillum from outside the country and expanding his influence among keoland 's neighboring allies when gillum i gillum finally succumbed to his madness tavish was in possession of near universal support from the council of niole dra council in 287 cy he was elected king of keoland and as promised he immediately began to set in motion his plans to expand the kingdom to as he refered to it its natural borders the imperial age begins the imperial age begins the imperial age begins tavish tavish's first act was quite controversial amongst many of the kingdom kingdom's nobles during his travels he became quite impressed by the use of skilled magi in the armies of the recently-formed kingdom of furyondy as his plans for expansion required a much stronger army he decided that such forces must be included in his own as well thus in a single move he abolished centuries-old prohibitions on the practice of arcane magic while simultaneously establishing the national academy of wizardry in order that those with high potential in the arts may learn to use their talents for the good of the country with this training begun he was ready for his first move in 288 cy two groups of colonists were dispatched one to the north and one to the east within a year the city of thornward was founded in the land to be called bissel while to the east after a mere three years stoneheim was founded within the land later known as the pomarj although these holdings were not technically possessions of keoland at this point tavish planned to convince the nobles of the council of niole dra council to annex the necessary land speaking to the great economic benefits controlling these two areas could bring granting keoland both control over trade between zeif and furyondy at the fals gap and control over the fabulously wealthy mines of the drachensgrabs with the aid of corond now high lord of the dwur tribes of the lortmils the demi-human lords of the lortmils are convinced to enter into a perpetual alliance with keoland a key component in projecting towards the pomarj and fals gap convincing both houses house rhola rhola and house neheli neheli to cede their holdings east of the sheldomar the states of ulek are created for use by the demi-human tribes in return large numbers of troops from the newly-founded principality of ulek lead the way into the drachensgrab hills though the few degenerate suel still in the area hold out in their strongholds for nearly three years by 298 cy they have fallen to the combined forces of magic-resistant dwur heavy infantry and the first graduates of the national academy of wizardry with the pomarj secured and the fals gap quiet tavish was free to turn his attention back to the south to the toli though they had recovered significantly since their defeat at the hands of malv iii malv the explorer the new ports in salinmoor were successful in keeping them from attacking gradsul however tavish desired to end the problem once and for all and thus sent a third colony south to establish a new city near the old naval base once established by malv iii malv the explorer they arrived in 301 cy and from here he planned to launch the final campaign against the toli these plans however were delayed by the appearance of the brazen horde ; an uncivilized nomadic clan who succeeded in conquering ket swarming past thornward and threatening both veluna and northern dorlin exploiting the situation tavish used the attack as an excuse to rally the nobles gaining their support in pushing the border north to the fals gap simultaneously he managed to remove the threat of a number of rivals from the knights of the march forming the knights of the watch in large part from their number and charging them with protecting thornward and the rest of the kingdom from the paynims or other threats while doing this he separated the lands of northern dorlin into their own state the gran march appointing a loyal military commander to its rule these two acts combined made the knights of the march obsolete and they gradually faded away while the newly-formed knights of the watch brought the bissel territory completely under keoish rule while the brazen horde horde was largely dealt with in 303 cy the toli struck against the newly-founded city of monmurg to the south beginning the conflict later known as the last toli war though at first they managed to stalemate the kingdom kingdom's naval forces tavish personally led an army through the hool marsh and raised the fortress of westkeep giving him the control over the lower javan river javan necessary to supply monmurg by land this advantage caused the war to swiftly turn against the toli leading to their destruction by 306 cy the campaign against them was formally ended with the establishment of the duchy of monmurg incorporating all territories south of the javan river including the toli who recieved a new ruling family of course the next ten years of tavish tavish's rule were focused on settling and expanding control over the new lands along with considerable diplomatic efforts made towards the lands beyond the county of hochoch this was finalized in 316 cy with the count of hochoch marrying the daughter of the major flan leader consolidating the power into a single family with this act tavish constituted the entire valley as the march of geoff with both the local flan and the various olve and dwur of the area joining the new province succession succession succession the remainder of tavish tavish's rule was largely focused on overseeing the development of the new lands while making plans to explore and eventually conquer the vast amedio jungle the borders of the kingdom had been expanded to the boundaries of the mountains which spanned the sheldomar valley as he wished great sources of wealth ahd been added bringing keoland to new heights of prosperity and though no one yet knew it tavish tavish's reign had yet to be even half over unfortunately though it was soon obvious that tavish tavish's son was not up to the task of following in his footsteps though tavish had doubled the size of keoland in less than 30 years he could see that the next king would have to serve as an administrator not a conqueror to give the sanction of time and tradition to these new lands tavish ii rejected this however determined to meet or exceed his father father's reputation in the battlefield this was readily apparant to the nobles of the council of niole dra court and many of them considered rejecting tavish ii and reverting to a house neheli neheli ruler upon tavish tavish's death as a compromise tavish finally found a potentially suitable replacement; his chief general maccabbah sellark a member of tavish tavish's family through a marriage he himself had arranged with his sister tavish tavish's cousin-in-law showed great promise to succeed even his own skill someday unfortunately maccabbah was reluctant to hold such a role the sellark sellarks had served as generals to the vilchar vilchars since the migrations and he did not wish to be placed in the role of administrator these misgivings were easily exploited and upon tavish tavish's death in 346 cy a death many have suspected was caused by tavish ii himself this reluctancy coupled with the bribery blackmail and pure intimidation from tavish ii against the nobles of the council of niole dra council led both to gain their wish maccabbah remained naught but a soldier for the rest of his life and the kingdom gained the blackguard category dukes of gradsul category keoish monarchs 